Glucosamine for dog's aging joints?

[johnday]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

Vetgirl; Seems everyone has success stories except myself on this subject. Una was drinking tons of water, lethargic, and looked like death warmed over. How can I account for that. Within 12 hours after stopping the glucosamine she started getting back to normal. I don't think there was any coincidence involved. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Steve_Miller]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

Dogs are a lot like humans, everyone will react differently in some way to each drug. Sometimes they will work great with no side effects, sometimes great with some side effects, sometimes not at all, and so on...
Visit your vet and let him know of the conditions you see and he/she could prescribed something else to try. Don't give up though as my dogs are like kids to me, they deserve that much even if your drug plan won't cover them.

Steve

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

<font color="green">Una was drinking tons of water, lethargic, and looked like death warmed over. How can I account for that. Within 12 hours after stopping the glucosamine she started getting back to normal. </font>

Like I was saying before there could have been fillers in the glucosamine that caused an allergic reaction, that would be my #1 reason. You could have given too high of a dose for your dog. Even in people it cause severe symptoms by taking too much. 3rd your dog simply may have had a reaction to the glucosamine. That is why it is important to work with your vet in these cases to make sure everything was in the right doses and to monitor any reactions.

 

[johnday]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

I think I'll talk to my vet again. We get a 10% discount and free advice because of our rescue activities. I really had a BAD feeling when I thought I was loosing her because of something I was trying to help her with. I must admit, we did this on our own. No way thats going to happen again!

 

[gsxr1100]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

you should get more then 10% for doing rescue.

 

[johnday]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

gsxr1100; I would have thought so too, but I am in RatRace heaven down here. Who was it that said, "never give a sucker an even break"? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[gsxr1100]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

I know.....

I know rescue is not easy at all. The problem is that the wife wants to keep all the dogs....

 

[johnday]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

gsxr100; With mine it's the cats. Problem is, I'm almost as bad as her! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Vetgirl0618]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

I have to agree with everyone else on this one. Definetly sounds like it could have been a reaction to something in the supplement. Every system is different and unfortunately there is no way of predicting how an animal will react to anything...this also includes people, cats, goats, anything really...i'm sorry she had so much trouble and I hope that you and your vet can come to a solution together that works for her. I will keep checking in to see how shes doing and anything else I can answer or find out for you i will be glad to!

 

[HickoryNut]

Re: Glucosamine for dog\'s aging joints?

Alot of the glucosamine products contain MSM, a remarkable sulfur-based compound touted as an anti-inflammatory because of its circulation stimulation properties, and its an excellent antioxidant. Unfortunately, it causes a high rate of allergic reactions because it makes the body more susceptable to already existing allergic conditions.

Me, my Labrador, and one of my horses take a dose of Farnam Fluidflex (for horses, no MSM) on our chow every morning. I've tried several brands over the last 5 years and the Fluidflex seems to perform the best. I used to give Rimadyl to the Lab on the occasion of extra pain but I've found that a plain old buffered aspirin works about as well.

MSM is interesting to investigate. I took it as a standalone supplement before I discovered the glucosamine was a better long solution to joint problems. MSM has excellent attributes but also has disturbing consequences associated with its use. It's crazy how some potentially dangerous products can avoid FDA regulations by hiding behind a "supplement" label.